Nov 28, 2011

Chunks of beef are simmered in beer with scallions, garlic, tomatoes, cumin and cilantro. Sometimes I make it with just the meat, sometimes I add yucca or potatoes. Serve this over rice with a little aji picante and you'll have a delicious comfort dish, Latin style!

I get lots of emails telling me how much you all love my Latin dishes. It's probably what I do best. When I crave beef stew, it's always this Colombian version I crave. You can use water in place of beer if you prefer. If achiote or sazon isn't something you can find near you, leave it out, it will still be good!

This is a great recipe for those of you who own a pressure cooker. The meat comes out so tender in half the time. I've included directions for those of you who own a pressure cooker. I've never made this in my crock pot, but I'm sure it would be great too, I may experiment with it next time I make it, I would probably add less liquid.

In a large dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add scallions and garlic and sauté about 2 - 3 minutes; add tomatoes, cilantro and a pinch of salt. Cook another 2 minutes, stirring.

Add beef to the pot along with beer, water, cumin, adobo, achiote, bay leaf and salt if needed. Cover and simmer on low heat 1 1/2 hours. Test to make sure beef is tender, if not cook another 15 minutes.

Add potatoes and cook until soft, about 20 minutes depending on the size.

For pressure cooker instructions:

In a large pressure cooker, heat oil over medium heat. Add scallions and garlic and sauté.

Add beef to the pot along with beer, water, cumin, adobo, achiote, bay leaf and salt if needed. Cover pressure cooker; when the lid is locked, reduce heat to low and cook 25 minutes. When the 25 minutes are up, shut stove off. When the pressure from the pot is released, remove the lid, and place the pot uncovered over medium heat. Bring to a boil, add potatoes andcook uncovered until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes depending on the size.

I think all Latina countries have their version of this, but yup... this is Colombian or whatever you want it to be :)

You can use water in place of beer, chicken broth would work too. Points remain the same.

Brooklyn, I have both regular cooking instructions and pressure cooker for the person who asked. I made this on the stove but often do it in my pressure cooker. Sorry have not tried it in the crock pot yet!

You could use a little tomato sauce instead if you are not a fan of vegetables.

I made this last night and it was delicious! I wanted to literally lick the bottom of the pot -- but held myself in check! :) Don't miss making this recipe. Well worth it and quick and easy to prepare!

This shouldn't be bland, sounds like you need more seasoning, cumin, salt, adobo, etc to taste. Also, I mentioned above I make this with aji picante which adds a touch of heat and really makes the dish! (I linked to the recipe)

Made this for the family tonight. I served it on top of your Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice. This dish was fantastic and my family loved it! The rice and stew complimented each other perfectly! Thanks again for another brilliant recipe :)

I keep seeing people asking for crock pot instructions, I had my pressure cooker out prepared to try this tonight but it is a Monday and am feeling a little adventurous. I will post how it went tonight. I did add a little more water since it will be cooking on low for about 9 hours.

I made this last night and for Cubans this is called Carne con papas (beef with potatoes). I changed it up a bit and added a can of tomato sauce instead of tomatoes, used beef broth instead of water and beer, added more cumin and adobo, added a chopped up onion and 1 jar of capers. After 4 hours of cooking on low, it was DELICIOUS. :-)

I ended up using turnips in it instead of red potatoes with bud light lime for my beer. I also used a can of petite diced tomatoes instead of fresh chopped. The liquid cooked up really quickly in my dutch oven so I ended up adding an extra 1/3 cup beer.

I had a hard time finding the adobo and achiote spices, though I didn't go to a Mexican specialty store. I improvised with some spices I had on hand, used a pork roast that I cooked the night before, and added some extra beer...it was delicious! Thanks so much for sharing these recipes. You've definitely contributed to my >60 pound weight loss over the past 18 months! I love having such an array of recipes, and I love to cook!! Thanks again!

this is such a delicious recipie! I made it in the crock pot on low for 10 hours and it was so tender and delicious! Since the crockpot can break down flavors over such a long cooking time I added a few adobe chipotle peppers to the mix. I used a beef roast and the next day we had lots of leftovers so instead of serving with rice again we took the leftovers and twice-baked them in a pan with Jiffy cornbread mix on top for a delicious and filling meal. Not as low in points as rice but very, very good. Thanks Gina for the amazing recipe!!!

I made this last night in the pressure cooker, which I use often, and the meat turned out very tender, but there was no sauce. Any suggestions? It seems to me that 1/3 cup beer and 1/3 cup of water is not that much liquid.

Just got finished eating this for dinner tonight and it was FANTASTIC!!! I didn't find the adobo but had everything else. I will DEFINITELY make this again! Hubby was almost licking his plate it was so good!

OMG!! Thank you Gina for this recipe! I made this tonight & it was fantastic. I saw you could sub the light beer for either water or chicken broth so I subbed it for chicken broth. I think I may use a little extra broth next time because I did not have as much sauce. I was out of rice so I just had it w/out rice but was still amazing! Again thanks :-)

I made this the other night and my family LOVED it! My husband used to work in a european Spanish restaurant and told me this tasted like his favorite dish there! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this amazing site! I've been completely stuck in a rut since my now-toddler was born, making he same boring food over and over again, but no more! Every single recipe I've tried so far has been awesome and extremely well-received by my husband. I've been making about 4-5 of your recipes for dinner each week and plan on doing that for as long as I can!

I made this and it was a huge hit with my young boys, one of whom usually only eats white or beige food. It reminds me of a pot roast that a friend from Guatemala used to me for me. I did serve it with the cilantro-lime rice you gave a recipe for. It was hearty healthy comfort in a bowl.

Wow!! This has to be one of my all time favorites from your site. I made it all in the crock pot. I just put everything in in the morning and cooked it on low for at least 8 hours, I think it was closer to 9.5 by the time we ate it. Loved it so much. Great flavor and great the next day. Thanks for another winner, Gina.

Hi gina,I make my carne guisada almost the same way, except for the beer. lol.. I also add baby carrots and smash them into the sauce for the picky lil ones. I love your site and my family loves all the new healty dishes I make them.

Carne Guisada is my all time favorite and I really liked this recipe. I ate it with your cilantro lime rice (not sure why my rice smelled funny--kind of like sushi LOL but it was great tasting). My only issue was the potatoes. I halved the tiny ones but I quartered ones that were bigger. We already ate, but I am actually still cooking this on low because many of the potatoes are still quite crunchy. Perhaps when I try this next time, I may boil them for 10 minutes prior to adding them to the meat.

I made this last weekend and my husband absolutely loved it. After his first bite, he got up off the table and came over and hugged me and said thank you. Lol.. He said it was the best stew I ever made and I've made quite a few. The only thing I did deifferent was that I sautéed the beef first and used the juices from that instead of the water. I also added a couple of dashes of Wiesheshire sauce but other than that, I copied everything else. Thanks for an awesome recipe.

I make this once a week for my family and put it over the Chipotle Lime Rice. We all love it. My 2 year old gobbles it up! This is a very easy recipe. I have also tried it in a crockpot and just doubled the beer and it turned out great! Very tender. thanks!

I've read that you have trouble getting your family to eat brown rice. The brown rice that I get from the asian store (Uwajimaya) tastes almost just like white rice! I'm half filipino, and even my mom loves it. I'm betting you could fool your family with it and they won't even notice. It's called Sukoyaka Genmai easy cooking whole grain brown rice.

If you can't find it in stores, you can order it online. Lucky for me Seattle is a really diverse city with a big asian population.http://www.amazon.com/Sukoyaka-Genmai-Cooking-Whole-Grain/dp/B002WFZC6I

First of all, I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe. It was wonderful, as are all of your recipes I've tried so far. I decided to experiment and cooked this in my crock pot today. I found that I only needed to cook it for a few hours on low, the flavor was amazing and the meat was cooked just right. I did not reduce the amount of liquid, although I could have because there was plenty of juice when it was done. My problem started when I kept cooking it for the remaining few hours. It lost a lot of the flavor (but it was still delicious and my husband loved it!). Since most dishes do lose some flavor in a crock pot, would you suggest adding more herbs/spices for the crock pot than your original recipe, or maybe add some more to the crock pot while it's cooking, before it's finished?I am so glad I discovered your website, not only are you teaching me how to cook for my husband and 3 sons, you are helping me lose weight! Today made the 14th recipe I've tried and I plan to try many, many more! Thank you =)

I dice a small onion, green bell pepper and couple of jalapenos amd sautee them, cut meat into cubes and brown the meat then throw it all into my crockpot with rest of ingredients(i use rotel instewd of fresh tomato) and cook on low for 8-10 hrs, add slurry of water amd cornstarch to thicken sauce as needed. Ive never added potatoes but will nxt time, I love this dish!!

I just made this dish and it was delicious! I didn't follow the measurements, just sort of eyeballed it but did include everything. Thank you so much! I will definitely be trying out some of your other recipes soon! :)

I made this for dinner last night and it was fantastic! Ended up adding a little more beer because the beef wasn't covered with liquid. I served it over your cilantro lime rice. Another great meal...you don't disappoint, Gina!

i have been making your recipes for a couple of weeks now and this is dish is on the top of my list not too sure if im loosing weight now that im cutting off on the calories but im sure enjoying the variation of food im eating. thanks a lot Gina! appreciate the time you put on this!

The calorie measurements are WAY off for this recipe. How could you possibly think this was just under 200 calories when you are putting 1 1/2 lbs of beef in there? It's easily 331 calories per serving.

Was really hoping this recipe worked out for me. I wish I would have seen the adding of tomatoe paste because I am sure that would have added flavor. This is the second recipe I have made from here and the flavor just isn't right, too bland. But I am going to continue to look and just adapt.

Thanks so much for posting this recipe! The flavor is so much like a Georgian (the country, not the state!) Pork Stew recipe I make but so much healthier. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but since I don't have access to adobo, achiote or sazon here in Italy, I used my go-to Latin/Cajun spice mix instead, which is three parts hot paprika, three parts cumin, two parts oregano and one part each of garlic salt and fresh-ground black pepper. I also threw in a few spoonfuls of the Aji Picante sauce near the end of the simmering process.

The flavor of this recipe was fantastic and I served it with rice and stewed black beans. The only negative, and this is most probably my own fault, was that my beef didn't soften up as much as I would have liked even though I cooked it for about two and a half hours and got good stewing meat from my butcher. I think this could be solved by slow cooking either with low heat for a longer time in the oven or by using a crock pot or pressure cooker as the recipe suggests. I'll definitely continue to experiment with this in the future because the flavor is just too good and my husband really enjoyed it as well. Definitely don't leave out the Aji Picante because it really adds something (much like the very similar Ajika sauce does for the Georgian Pork Stew). I just used some in a fridge-cleaning omelet I made for breakfast this morning with egg whites, spinach, black beans, tomatoes, onions and feta cheese and it was the perfect complement.

OMG just made this for lunch and it was delicious!! Served it with a side salad for a very filling meal- I love all of your recipes and make my grocery list weekly based on your site, I have tried MANY of your meals and they have all been fantastic... You help make Weight Watchers easy by not only having the points calculated but by making food that is yummy and doesn't feel healthy but is. Thank you for all you do!

I made this for me and my boyfriend (who is Colombian, and it passed the test!) and it came out absolutely amazing. I actually only cooked for about an hour and 15 minutes total as we were starving, and the meat was melt in your mouth amazing. The flavors were delicious. Three of my neighbors came over and asked what I was making while it was cooking! Will definitely make again!

I made this for dinner tonight and it was delish!!!! I served it with a side of red beans (spanish style) and white rice. My family really enjoyed it (my daughter didn't even realize it had tomatoes). Please keep rockin the recipes.

I just started simmering this and it smells DELISH! My husband always thinks I'm so fancy when I cook because I always do a recipe on this blog. Any cooking for me is rare ;) I couldn't find the achiote but I'll have to pick some up next time I'm at a specialty grocer.

We loved this recipe. I made this 2 weeks ago, and we are still talking about it. With such basic ingredients I wasn't sure how this would taste. WOW!!! This is my favorite dinner now. Thanks for the great recipes!